Aftermath
It had been two days since Dairuko found out the truth about his father and not a single person had seen him since. Natsuki had been covering for him but now she'd had enough so set out to find her brother again, and she knew exactly where he was.
"I know you're here, Dairuko!" Natsuki announced as she entered the bar in a small village that practically consisted of just bars. Dairuko had always liked this one bar in particular however, because it had the strongest drink - that he had created - along with a drinking contest in his honour.
"Hey, Nee-san… I knew you'd find me." Dairuko said, the alcohol was a pungent stench on his breath.
"Dairuko, it's been two days. You need to come back to Konoha, everyone's worried."
"Who's everyone? We don't have enough friends to say 'everyone'."
"Dairuko, just shut up and come with me."
"Buy me a drink first." Dairuko joked then tried finish his sake but Natsuki grabbed his wrist.
"You've had enough, Dairuko."
"Let go of my wrist, Natsuki."
"Alright then." Natsuki let go but before Dairuko could grab his drink again Natsuki used her chakra strings to stop him. "Now let's go." Natsuki said and walked her 'puppet' outside the bar.
"This is unfair, you know that."
"And you're being childish, running away from your problems rather than facing them."
"Bah!" Dairuko spat and once they were halfway between Konoha and that bar Natsuki released Dairuko from the chakra strings.
"Dairuko, this no longer just your burden. I'm a part of this family now too remember, and you going ghost for two days is putting a strain on our family. So you have two choices, Dairuko; come back to Konoha with me or go back to that bar and drown yourself in alcohol and self-pity." Natsuki said and continued on her way to Konoha while Dairuko stood for a while then walked in the opposite direction. "Baka…" Natsuki -glancing back- muttered and continued walking.
Natsuki returned to Konoha alone where she met Itachi on her way to Tsunade's office.
"Stupid Dairuko." Natsuki muttered.
"He'll come around." Itachi said.
"I know he will, but that walk back alone was a pain." Natsuki complained and Itachi gave a light laugh.
"I would've joined you."
"No way, then the two of you would've fought before we brought Dairuko here."
"True enough."
Itachi and Natsuki continued their walk to Tsunade's office and once there, Natsuki told Tsunade what happened between her and Dairuko.
"Do you think he'll come back?" Tsunade asked.
"I'm sure he will." Natsuki said.
"I hope you're right."
"She usually is, especially about Dairuko." Itachi added and the two left her office.
Dairuko stood outside the hospital working up the will to go inside and see his father -that he had put there in the first place.
"This is going to be strange… at best." Dairuko said to himself when someone began tugging on his shirt.
"Hi, Dairuko-kun." A female voice greeted.
"Oh uh hey, Ayame." Dairuko greeted.
"So you finally decided to visit your sensei after two days."
"How did you-"
"I'm best friends with your sister, in case you forgot."
"So she told you about everything."
"Not everything because of special-mission-ninja-code-of-silence stuff."
"Oh yeah, damn those codes of silence." Dairuko said sarcastically.
"Well?"
"Well what?"
"Where's your gift?"
"What gift?"
"When you visit someone in hospital it's common courtesy to bring them a gift."
"Well, I don't have one, per say."
"Dairuko, you're hopeless." Ayame remarked and looked at the flowers she was carrying. "Here, we can give him these."
"We?"
"Let's go."
"Wait-" Dairuko was interrupted by Ayame who grabbed Dairuko's wrist and dragged him into the hospital.
The two of them reached Jiraiya's room Ayame was only able to drag him so far before he used his serious strength to stop. Dairuko wasn't afraid to face Jiraiya but he was nervous because he didn't know whether his father would accept him as his son or give him the cold shoulder for almost killing him. Ayame could feel Dairuko tense so she slid her hand from his wrist down to his hand then held it, Dairuko unconsciously closed his fingers around her hand.
"Let's go in." Ayame said.
"Yeah sure." Dairuko said then the two walked in and saw Jiraiya just laying there.
"He must be asleep." Ayame said and Jiraiya's eyes shot open.
"For a pretty girl like you, I'm always awake." Jiraiya said with his usual pervertedness. Ayame got such a shock that she instinctively punched Jiraiya in the face. "Ow…what kind of person hits someone who's already in hospital?" Jiraiya said holding his nose.
"The kind of person who doesn't like getting scared!" Ayame exclaimed.
"Hey, sensei." Dairuko greeted.
"Hey, Dairuko… so you don't visit your teacher for two days and when you do come visit, you show up with a girlfriend… looking for your father's approval already are you?" Jiraiya teased.
"You old perverted bastard!" Dairuko exclaimed.
"I'll leave you two to your father-son moment." Ayame said and stepped out the room.
"Sensei."
"Don't worry about it, Dairuko, I never blamed you."
"I'm still sorry. I should've had a clearer head on the situation instead of jumping to conclusions."
"As I said, you needn't apologise... son."
"I'm… not sure I'm ready for that."
"Oh come on, you just dived into calling Tsunade your mother."
"Well I didn't almost try to kill her!"
"Point taken."
"Jiraiya… uhm… how are you?"
"Oh, I'm fine trust me, I've suffered worse."
"Really?"
"Yeah… no."
"Oh…" Dairuko trailed off.
"But, look at it this way, the mother of my children and one of my sons have already almost killed me and I'm still alive."
"Why'd Tsunade almost kill you?"
"I was peeping." Jiraiya snickered.
"Of course you were." Dairuko laughed.
"Listen, Dairuko, I want you to know that if I had I known about you before, I would've told you."
"I realise that now… wish I trusted you earlier, then maybe none of this would've happened."
"Are you kidding me? Did you not see what you did to Orochimaru? You made him look like a genin against ANBU. I take credit for teaching you well."
"I always did have a great teacher. A really perverted, bad with money, who teaches you bad habits teacher."
"Alright so, I wasn't the best role model… sit down, we need to talk." Jiraiya said in a serious tone.
"Ok." Dairuko sat down.
"Listen, son, one day your body is going to start changing, hair will grow where it has never grown before-"
"Are you really giving me the puberty talk?"
"Don't interrupt me when I'm talking."
"It's a bit late to wanna give me the talk now don't you think."
"Fine then. When you reach a certain age you will start feeling things for girls that you've never felt before; and want to do things you didn't want to before either, like get in between her breasts and lick her-"
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Dairuko screamed.
"I was trying to give you the talk all parents should give their children."
Meanwhile outside the room Ayame and Natsuki -who had decided to visit her sensei- were both holding in their laughs as best they could, but it was hard when they could hear Dairuko screaming and Jiraiya defending his words.
"What's so funny?" Itachi asked as he walked toward the two girls.
"Jiraiya's trying to give Dairuko a series of awkward talks because he thinks ,as a father now, he has to." Natsuki giggled.
"I believe Dairuko's well past the point when those talks mean something." Itachi said.
"That's his argument." Ayame said as the door swung open, revealing a traumatised Dairuko in the doorway.
"Don't say a word." Dairuko said.
"I would hit you for making me walk all the way back to the village by myself but, Jiraiya-sensei seems to have tortured you enough."
"Thanks, Nee-san."
"Sorry to love and leave you guys, but I have something to do before my break is over." Ayame said.
"I'll walk you wherever you're going."
"That's okay, Dairuko."
"I insist. After all, you brought me here. The least I can do is take you... wherever."
"If you insist."
"I do." With that Dairuko and Ayame left.
"I guess it's just us again, Itachi." Natsuki said and Itachi nodded.
"Would you care to join me for tea?" Itachi asked.
"You needn't even ask." Natsuki smiled as she and Itachi left.
Natsuki and Itachi sat across from each other, talking about their earlier missions and misadventures with Dairuko.
"Itachi, I'm thinking of letting my hair grow longer, what do you think, seeing as you have the longest hair?" Natsuki asked then sipped her tea.
"If you want to." Itachi answered nonchalantly.
"Ha. You never were one to give advice on one's looks."
"Just remember the risks is all I can say."
"Oh, I could never forget the risks…"
Flashback
Team 0 had been sent to track down a rogue ninja team hiding out near the border that led into Sunagakure, and now each of the members of Team 0 were battling against the rogue ninjas.
The rogues were former high ranked ANBU ninjas while Team 0 was still chuunins. Natsuki tried a quick punch but the ninja countered it with a roundhouse kick. While Natsuki reeled from the kick, the ninja pulled her by her hair into an uppercut that knocked her onto her stomach. Natsuki tried to get up but the ninja grabbed her hair again and lifted her face off the ground before he placed his foot behind her head then stomped it back in the ground.
"Little girls like you have no right to be ninjas." The ninja spat before he picked her face up then stomped it in the ground again and again."How pathetic." He added then walked away from Natsuki's broken body.
Natsuki was borderline unconscious when the ninja was done with her, but she still stood up with much more than a fire in her eyes. Natsuki picked up a stone and threw it at the ninja, causing him to turn around once it hit his head but, as he turned around, Natsuki was charging towards him so he threw a kunai that Natsuki ducked under by sliding on the ground and kicking his one leg, dropping him to one knee. He then tried to stab Natsuki but she was already behind him with her legs wrapped around his neck suffocating him while her body was positioned in such a way the rogue ninja couldn't do anything about.
"How does it feel to get your ass kicked by a little girl chuunin, shithead?!" Natsuki exclaimed then broke his neck.
Natsuki stood up, spat out some blood then wiped her mouth before she disposed of the body. 'This long hair isn't working for me.' She thought then continued working.
End of Flashback
"Well I think I'm strong enough to have long-ish hair without it being a particularly big weakness." Natsuki said while Itachi finished his tea.
"You are stronger than you were back then… I suppose it would be alright." Itachi said as he paid for the tea.
"Itachi, you feel like sparring for a bit?" Natsuki asked once they were outside.
"It couldn't hurt."
"Oh it will hurt… you."
"Your trash talk is as bad as Dairuko's."
"Urusei…" Natsuki muttered and Itachi gave a light laugh.
"Let's go. Maybe you'll actually make me break a sweat."
"Oh it's on now, 'Tachi."
Dairuko walked into Tsunade's office to let his mother know that he isn't dead or anything.
"Hello, Shizune-san. Hello to you too, Ton-ton." Dairuko greeted with a smile.
"Hello, Dairuko-kun." "Bwee" Shizune greeted and Ton-ton oinked.
"Is my mother in?"
"Yes."
"Thanks." Dairuko said and walked into the office.
"About time you came back, Dairuko." Tsunade said.
"Hello to you too."
"Did you visit Jiraiya?"
"Yeah I saw Jiraiya… had a series of awkward talks."
"Dairuko… I'm glad you came back."
"Of course, I can't stay away from this place, it's my home and it has my family well, most of them anyway, and despite our differences, family is family."
"Thanks, Dairuko." Tsunade said and stood up.
"I'm sorry, kaa-san… with all the stress I cause you, you might end up looking your age." Dairuko laughed.
"You're too troublesome, Senju Dairuko." Tsunade said and gave him a hug.
"You sound like a Nara." Dairuko commented when Sakura walked into the room.
"Tsunade-sama, I did it!" Sakura exclaimed as she walked in with a rabbit. "Oh, I didn't know you had someone else here."
"It's alright, I was just stopping by, about to leave actually. Hokage-sama, Sakura-san." Dairuko bowed and left.
Natsuki and Itachi arrived at the training area where they came across TenTen and Neji who had just arrived as well.
"Well look who it is." Natsuki said as she greeted TenTen and Neji.
"Hayo, Natsuki-senpai and Uchiha-dono." TenTen greeted.
"What are you two doing here?" Itachi asked.
"We came here to spar and what of you?" Neji spoke.
"Same."
"Why don't we spar together?" Natsuki suggested.
"I'm game if the boys are." TenTen said.
"I'll take the Hyuuga as a partner." Itachi said, rather suspiciously.
"Then I'm with TenTen." Natsuki winked at her partner, cracking her knuckles.